When he arrived at the station the following morning Taylor was already waiting for him. He called him into one of the meeting rooms and already seemed to know his way about the place. Perez thought he couldn't have had much sleep.
'Just a quick chat,' Taylor said. 'Before we meet the troops. Talk me through what steps you took yesterday, who you met. We know about the old man. Who else did you speak to?'
Perez told him. It felt strange. It had been a long time since he'd answered to another detective.
'I need to get the timetable clear it my mind. The order of events.' Taylor tore a sheet of paper from a flip chart, laid it on the table and started to scribble in thick black marker pen. Perez hoped nobody else would be expected to read it. It was unintelligible.
'The early hours of New Year's Day she and her best mate fetch up at Magnus Tait's place. A sort of dare.
The night of the 3rd she tells her father she's at a party and not to expect her home. Then there's the text on the 4th saying she might stay out again.' He looked up from the paper. 'Didn't he ask where she was? Who was having the party?'
Perez shook his head. 'His wife died not long ago. He still seems to be suffering some sort of depression. I think the girl was allowed to get on with it'
'OK. A place like this, we shouldn't have any trouble finding out Late morning on the 4th and she's catching the bus back home. Tait is on the same bus and asks her in for a cup of tea. He says she leaves his place before it gets dark, but that's the last time anyone admits to seeing her. The next morning, the 5th, her body is found on the hill not far from Hillhead. Is that right?'
'Yes.' He almost said Sir, stopped it just in time.
This was his patch.
'Let's go and see what the rest of them have got for us then.'
Perez had asked Sandy to manage the Incident Room. The constable had an instinct for computers and was good at routine and Perez preferred him in the office, safely out of the way of the public. Sandy was fit for drunken scraps in town on a Friday night, but not for anything requiring more subtlety or tact. He stood now, scratching his bum, waiting for Taylor’s response to the layout of the room, making Perez think of a cub scout waiting for Akela's inspection. That was Sandy's problem. He still thought like a peerie boy.
'Will it do?' He was freckled and eager. 'Of course we've never run an investigation on this scale before.
Not in my time. The PCs are up and running.'
'Fantastic,' Taylor said. 'Really, fantastic.' It was over the top and Perez could tell that his mind was elsewhere, but Sandy was taken in. Here, with an audience, Taylor had lost none of the energy of the night before, but Perez could see blue smudges like bruises under his eyes. Outside it was still dark. Now, the room was lit by desk lamps. There were pools of light and shadows in the corners. Perez was reminded suddenly of a wartime ops room from an old movie. There was the same tension and expectancy.
Taylor was still talking. 'I take it we've got a specified outside line with a number we can give to the public!
'It's just been connected;
'I want it manned 24/7. Someone has the information which will lead to a conviction. I don't want a witness finding the courage to ring, only to get an answerphone. They get through immediately to a real person.
Understood?'
'There'll be lots of folk pointing the finger at Magnus Tait: Sandy Wilson said.
'Pointing the finger's not enough. We're polite but we make it clear we need evidence! Taylor paused for a minute to check that he had their attention. 'I've decided to use the Inverness team to work the phone. They can take it in shifts.
This is a unique situation and we have to be sensitive to it. Our callers might want to stay anonymous. Fat chance of that if there's someone they know answering the calls! He looked quickly round the room. 'Everyone agree?'
The question was a formality. They all knew the decision had already been made. Taylor perched on a desk at the front of the room.
'I take it the body's been moved?'
'It's at the undertaker's. The CSI was happy enough to release it. It'll go south for the post mortem on this evening's boat. Jane Meltham will go with it to be there for the pm!
'What did the girl have on her? A bag, keys, purse?' 'No bag or keys. A purse in her coat pocket. Morag searched her bedroom yesterday and found a small handbag. No keys there either!
'That's weird isn't it? That she didn't take her keys with her. How would she get back into the house?'
'People don't always lock up here. Not unless they're going to be away for a while. Perhaps she did have them, but they dropped out of her pocket when she was killed.'
'I'd like a fingertip search of the fields around the scene. How do we manage that? Do we have to ship in more personnel?'
'In the past we've organized a search through the coastguard: Perez said. 'They made the cliff rescue team available. I'm not sure if it was officially sanctioned . . !
'Bugger official sanctions. We know how long it'll take to get more people up here. A gale or a blizzard and we've lost any evidence which might be there. Can I leave you to sort that? Get them out on the hill as soon as practicable!
'Sure! There was no other possible answer, though
Perez wasn't sure how long it would take to call the team members in.
'Then I want you to go to the schoo1.'
In full flow 'Taylor talked very quickly, the words tripping over themselves. Sometimes he couldn't find the right phrase but continued anyway. 'Ask to speak to all the Sixth year. I don't know. Perhaps a special assembly if you can organize it, something forma1.
To emphasize how important their help would be. Do it today, while they're still in shock, before they have time to get used to what's happened! He was sitting on the desk in front of them, swinging his legs like a child who couldn't keep still. 'There should be a lot of sympathy for the father. I know, pupils and teachers, they don't always get on. But in a case like this. I mean, for Christ's sake. Give them the number of the special phone line.
Tell them they'll get through to an outsider if they call it, but make it clear they can talk to you if they prefer. That way we're giving them a choice. We want to know where Catherine was the night before she died, who she usually hung out with, boyfriends, wannabe boyfriends! He stopped for breath. There was a brief moment of silence. Looking beyond the SIO Perez saw, through the long window, that the darkness wasn't so dense. Soon it would be light.
There's one lad I want to trace,' Perez said. 'He drove the girls home on New Year's Eve. I know where he lives.
It should be easy enough to find him through the schoo1.'
'What about Magnus Tait?' It was Sandy Wilson. He could never hold his tongue and Taylor’s appreciation of the Incident Room had made him overconfident. 'I mean, if he killed the girl, do we need to bother with all this?'
Taylor jumped down from the desk and swung round to face him. Perez expected an explosion. He had the inspector down as a man who wouldn't suffer fools gladly and there were times when he thought Sandy was the biggest fool in Shetland. But Taylor kept his temper. Perez thought it was taking an effort, but the SIO would know it wouldn't help relationships between Inverness and Lerwick if he ballocked one of the Shetlanders in front of his colleagues.